Depositional Sequences Controlled by High Rates of Sediment Supply, Sea-Level Variations, and Growth Faulting - The Quaternary Baram Delta of Northwestern Borneo

Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102
www.elsevier.nl/locate/margeo
Depositional sequences controlled by high rates of sediment

supply, sea-level variations, and growth faulting: the Quaternary
Baram Delta of northwestern Borneo
R.N. Hiscott*
Department of Petroleum Geoscience, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link BE1410, Brunei
Received 15 September 2000; accepted 23 January 2001
Abstract
The shelf off the Baram Delta is 5070 km wide, and is underlain by 89 km of post-Eocene upper slope, prodelta, deltafront, uvial, shelfshoreface, and estuarine (incised-valley and tidal-embayment) deposits. The shelf break is dened by a
prominent fault scarp ,130 m below sea level. Beyond, the seabed descends at an average of 238 to the Borneo Trough at
.2750 m depth. The outer-shelf Quaternary succession is locally .1 km thick. Uppermost Quaternary units then thicken by a
factor of 25 across an en echelon set of shelf-edge growth faults. Five widespread `key' reectors, traced with the aid of 1500
line-km of high-resolution seismic proles, are downlap surfaces beneath clinoforms on the shelf. Two of these reectors
directly overlie uvial channels. These are interpreted as erosional ravinement surfaces that formed during shelf-crossing postglacial transgressions, and correlate with surfaces of maximum regression in the slope succession. Acoustic facies on the shelf,
calibrated by 15 60100 m-long geotechnical borings, are interpreted as muddy prodelta, transgressive, and incised-valley
deposits; forced-regressive and lowstand uvial channel sands; shelf-edge sandy deltas; and reworked sands along ravinement
surfaces. Muddy prodelta deposits drape the slope. Isopach maps of strata between `key' reectors reveal shingled highstand to
lowstand delta lobes. A widespread 4th-order LowstandBypass Sequence developed during the 12010 ka sea-level cycle. It
reaches 400 m thickness and resembles 3rd-order sequences of Vail and coworkers, but with a thinner Transgressive Systems
Tract and a thick Forced Regressive Systems Tract (FRST). The FRST includes sandy shelf-edge deltas deposited by small
rivers after the Baram system began to bypass the shelf through an incised valley. The incised valley belongs to a contemporaneous ValleyCanyon Sequence and is lled with lower FRST to Lowstand Systems Tract uvial deposits, and upper
backstepping deltaic deposits of the retreating Baram Delta. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Deltas; Quaternary; Sequence stratigraphy; Allostratigraphy; Forced regression; Incised valley
1. Introduction
Most published sequence stratigraphic models rely
heavily on data from wide continental shelves fring* Corresponding author: Earth Sciences Department, Memorial
University of Newfoundland, St John's, Newfoundland, A1B
3X5, Canada. Fax: 11-709-737-2589.
E-mail address: rhiscott@sparky2.esd.mun.ca (R.N. Hiscott).
ing large continents (e.g. Atlantic and Gulf coasts of

USA, North Sea). In the western Pacic region,
however, shelves are typically much narrower and
high-gradient rivers transport large volumes of sediment from young mountains to coastal deltas
(Table 1). Sequence-stratigraphic architecture in
such areas should be expected to differ from the architecture at wide passive margins.
The continental shelf of Brunei and adjacent parts
0025-3227/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0025-322 7(01)00118-9
68
R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102
Table 1
Quantitative data for selected Borneo (bold) and world rivers with comparable discharges or sediment yields (Milliman and Syvitski, 1992;
Sandal, 1996)
River
Drainage basin area

( 10 6 km 2)
Average discharge
(m 3/s)
Sediment yield
( 10 6 t/yr)
Baram (Malaysia)
Belait (Brunei)
Brazos (USA)
Chao Phraya (Thailand)
Nakdong (Korea)
Negro (Argentina)
Po (Italy)
Rhone (France)
Sao Francisco (Brazil)
Skeena (Canada)
Tanshui (Thailand)
Tutong (Brunei)
0.0192
0.0023
0.11
0.16
0.024
0.10
0.054
0.09
0.64
0.042
0.027
0.0013
1445
145
225
965
375
950
1150
1500
3000
920
1880
35
12
0.25
16
11
10
13
13
31
6
11
11
of Sarawak and Sabah, northwestern Borneo (Fig. 1),

is underlain by 89 km of post-Eocene siliciclastic
sediments (Hamilton, 1979; Sandal, 1996) derived
from uplifted rocks of the RajangCrocker ranges.
This is a major hydrocarbon province, with estimated
ultimate production in coastal and offshore elds of
,520 million m 3 oil, ,50 million m 3 condensate, and
,575 billion m 3 gas (Sandal, 1996). The post-Eocene
sediments accumulated as upper slope, prodelta,
delta-front, uvial, shelfshoreface, and estuarine
(incised-valley and tidal-embayment) deposits
(Sandal, 1996; J. Lambiase, pers. comm. 1998). The
most recent expression of the deltaic style of sedimentation is the Baram Delta, which straddles the border
between Sarawak (Malaysia) and Brunei. The climate
of northwestern Borneo is tropical, with highest rainfall during the northeast monsoon (late October to
early January). Annual rainfall ranges from 2.5 m
near the coast to .4 m inland. Tidal range is ,2 m
except for ,2.3 m spring tides; higher ranges occur
with storm set-up. Wave heights during the northeast
monsoon can exceed 3 m. Signicant wave heights of
11.5 m are exceeded .20 to .30% of the time most
months of the year, whereas larger signicant wave
heights are only exceeded ,10% of the time and only
during the peak of the northeast monsoon (Sandal,
1996, p. 33).
The Baram River forms a lobate, wave-inuenced,
tide-dominated delta (J. Lambiase, pers. comm.,
2000). Its suspended load far surpasses bedload, so
that mouth bars at the delta front contain abundant

mud drapes and intercalations. The history of delta
growth since ,5400 yr BP has been interpreted by
Caline and Huong (1992) to involve ooding of the
truck valley to a point landward of the Lambir Hills
(Fig. 1C) as northern-hemisphere glaciers melted,
then progradation of the delta to its modern position.
The continental shelf offshore Brunei is 5070 km
wide; it is narrowest immediately seaward of the
Baram Delta (Fig. 1). The shelf break is dened in
most places by a prominent fault scarp at ,130 m
water depth. The seabed then descends steeply to
the oor of the Borneo Trough at .2750 m. This
trough is interpreted as an abandoned subduction
zone, inactive since the late Miocene (Hamilton,
1979; Hutchison, 1996). The region between the
shelf break and the Outer Shelf Growth Fault
(Fig. 1B) is referred to as the outer shelf; the more
landward area as the inner shelf.
Southwest and west of Brunei, in offshore areas of
Sarawak (Luconia platform of Fig. 1A), the shelf
widens dramatically into a shallow sea, ,200 m
deep, that extends from Borneo to Java, Sumatra
and Peninsular Malaysia. Much of this broad shelf
was dry land during high-latitude Quaternary glaciations (Tjia, 1980). Where the wide shelf of Sarawak
narrows offshore Brunei, a prominent canyon incises
the shelf edge (Fig. 1B). The distal extension of the
canyon is oored by debris-ow deposits .50 m thick
(unpublished data).
69
Fig. 1. Location maps for the western Brunei shelf. (A) Regional geography of southeast Asia, with country names set in normal font, and italics
used for names of islands, states, or provinces. (B) and (C), Bathymetric map compiled from M.V. Armada Hydro echo sounder data, calculated
depths below ,500 m (explained in text), and contours shown by Sandal (1996, his gure 1.2) outside the survey grid. Bathymetric contour
interval 10 m in depths ,200 m, and 50 m elsewhere. Edges of incised valley on the middle and outer shelf determined from examination of 2D
and 3D seismic data of Sarawak Shell Berhad. Other maps in this paper only show area B. P, Pufn-1 well location.
70
Fig. 2. Ship tracks (small airgun and 3.5 kHz proler), selected geotechnical borings, exploration wells Pufn-1 and Parak-1 used to calibrate
Quaternary chronology, the main faults and Ampa Anticline that affect the Quaternary succession, and the distribution of seismic line segments
illustrated in subsequent gures. Numbers in italics identify the seismic gures of this paper. Two bold dip lines (AA 0 and BB 0 ) are regional
cross-sections presented in Fig. 3. PF, Pufn Fault; PLF, Pufn-Likap Fault; OSGF, Outer Shelf Growth Fault.
2. Data acquisition and approach

In March 1998, ,1500 line-km of tracks were
surveyed by M.V. Armada Hydro on the western
shelf and slope of Brunei (Fig. 2). Two seismic
systems were used: (1) a small airgun (sleeve gun)
towed at 1.5 m depth and red each 34 s, with reections received on a 7.6-m, 20-element GeoPulse
5110A hydrophone array (Benthos AQ-4 hydrophones) and recorded using a CODA Technologies
DA200 digital acquisition system; and (2) a 16-transducer hull-mounted 3.5 kHz array (GeoAcoustics
model 134), red each 0.40.6 s and digitally
recorded on a second CODA unit. On the shelf, the
3.5 kHz signals were corrected for ship motion using a
Technical Survey Services Limited model 320 heave
Distance Seaward (km)
0
0
OSGF
A'
PF
B'
shelf-edge
delta
incised
valley
shelf-edge
delta (Fig. 4B)
PF
0.5
40
80
incised
valley
(Fig. 15)
0.5
Ampa
Anticline
40
modern delta (Fig. 15)
OSGF
Two-way
Travel-time (s)
A0
71
PLF
1.0
A'
Baram
Canyon
B'
Fig. 3. Vertically exaggerated (,40 ) cross-sections along two dip lines located in Fig. 2. Each section shows the depths (in two-waytraveltime) of the seaoor and key reectors (from top: a 0, a , b , g , d , e ). g is not recognized beyond the shelf edge, and is only shown on the
shelf where it does not coincide with either the b reector or the d reector. a 0 is only shown near the landward end of each line where it
denes the base of the modern Baram Delta. e is arched over the actively growing Ampa Anticline on line BB 0 . At the left end of each crosssection, the paleo-Baram incised valley occupies the synclinal depression landward of the Ampa Anticline. Only the Outer Shelf Growth Fault
(OSGF) and the Pufn Fault (PF) extend between the cross-sections. PLF, Pufn-Likap Fault (Fig. 2).
compensator. In this paper, `reector' is the term used

for a geological impedance boundary in the sedimentary succession, and `reection' is the term used for an
acoustic signal received by hydrophone arrays and
plotted on recorder paper.
From the shallowest part of the survey grid to
,450 m water depth, a 10 inch 3 (164 cm 3) sleeve
gun was deployed. A larger 40 inch 3 (655 cm 3) sleeve
gun was used in deeper water (,1850 , 150 m); 10
and 40 inch 3 tracks overlap near the shelf edge.
Ship's position was determined by differential GPS,
accurate offshore Brunei to better than ^5 m. The
hydrophone array was towed close to the vessel, so
that no offset correction is required for the airgun data.

Navigation xes were taken each 500 m along the
survey tracks.
Filtered digital signals (1501600 Hz for airgun,
and 25004000 Hz for 3.5 kHz pinger) were
displayed and printed to paper rolls for post-cruise
study. In the airgun paper records, ve prominent
and widespread reections were traced. All reections
occur as doublets because a sea-surface ghost arrived
,4 ms after the primary reection. At each navigation
x, the sub-seaoor depth of the reector corresponding to each traced reection (measured in two-way
travel time) was entered into a spreadsheet le. This
72
Table 2
Criteria for interpretation of sediment types from acoustic properties, based on Piper et al. (1999); Damuth (1980); Anderson et al. (1996)
Reection amplitude
Reection continuity and

geometry
External geometry
Interpreted sediment type
Reection-free
(Not applicable)
Homogeneous silty clay
Low
Discontinuous
Low to moderate
Disrupted, discontinuous,
locally incoherent
Sheetlike drape or onlapping

channel ll
Sheetlike drape or onlapping
channel ll
Broad lenses, mounded tops
Low to moderate
Continuous, parallel, gentle

clinoform dips (,38)
Moderate
Discontinuous
Moderate
Continuous to discontinuous
Moderate to high
Discontinuous to incoherent,
high primary dips (5158)
High
Continuous, parallel
le was subsequently used to plot isopach maps (in

units of two-way travel time). These maps were hand
contoured in order to properly represent the complex
thickness changes across growth faults.
Positions of traced reections were cross-checked
at all track crossings. No uncertainties in reection
tracing occurred across small-offset growth faults on
the middle to outer shelf. Beyond the shelf edge,
however, sediment thicknesses increase by a factor
of 25 across the Pufn and Pufn-Likap growth
faults (Fig. 3). Initially, reections were correlated
across these faults based on reection character and
the relationship of the reections to surrounding units
(using both reection geometry and seismic facies
attributes). Later, using a Brunei Shell Petroleum
(BSP) 3D seismic dataset, strategically placed pointto-point traverses through the fault-free corridor that
runs downslope between these en echelon faults
conrmed the initial correlations.
The seismic facies and stratal geometry of
units between the ve prominent reectors were
described and interpreted. Seismic facies were
dened using parameters like reection conguration,
amplitude, and external form of each seismic package
Large-scale wedges or
`lobes', slope or depressionsmoothing drape
Sheetlike drape or broad thin
lenses
Bundled wedging reections,
local onlap
Channel ll, or small wedgeshaped lobes, or mounded,
nested lenses
Key reections traceable
through much of survey area
Silty clay with irregular silt

laminae to thin beds
Heterogeneous disrupted silt,
mud, and minor sand in masstransport units
Laminated silty clay with a few
thin beds of silt and/or ne sand
Silt, ne sand in reworked lenses;
possible mud interbeds
Silty mud with a few thin beds of
silt and/or ne sand
Thick sand beds and lenses
intercalated with muddier
deposits
Sand-rich veneer on at
erosional surface across which
physical properties change
sharply (e.g. water content)
(e.g. Mitchum et al., 1977; Sangree et al., 1978). The

interpretation of sedimentary characteristics from
seismic-facies attributes was assisted and conrmed
by referring to reports on 15 geotechnical borings,
mostly .80 m deep (Fig. 2). Table 2 summarizes
criteria used to interpret sediment characteristics
from seismic facies attributes.
Bathymetry was recorded using a conventional
narrow-beam echo sounder, with heave compensation, for water depths shallower than a few hundreds
of metres to almost 1000 m, with the limiting depth
dependent on sea state (i.e. noise level). All water
depths were corrected for tidal water-level variations.
For x positions in deeper water, where the echo
sounder could no longer track the rugged bottom,
water depths were calculated using (1) the last reliable
depth determination; (2) the difference in two-way
travel-time between this point and the position with
unknown depth, as measured from airgun proles; and
(3) an acoustic velocity of 1530 m/s. Two `sound
velocity proles' were acquired beyond the shelf
break during the survey, giving average velocities of
1530 and 1522 m/s in the upper 110 and 180 m of the
water column, respectively.
73
Fig. 4. 10 inch 3 airgun proles across the large-offset Pufn Fault at the shelf edge, both located on the track map in part B. The steep
clinoforms of the post-a delta thicken by a factor of ,5 across the shelf edge. The lobe in part (A), with its descending foreset bedding, is also
shown in a SWNE view in Fig. 13(B).
The directly measured depths (echo sounder)

are accurate to ^1020 cm. The calculated
depths are assumed accurate to ^0.2% (i.e. ^2 m
at 1000 m depth; ^3 m at 1500 m depth). No
compensation for ship's heave could be included in
the calculations, and the precision of measurements of
two-way travel-times on the airgun proles is
, ^ 2 ms.
3. Seabed physiography
The nearshore zone is dominated by the Baram
Delta and its mouth bars (Fig. 1). The steepest slope
on the shelf is ,0.88, situated ,10 km off the front of
the delta, where there is a step in the seabed between
depths of 20 and 40 m. Elsewhere on the shelf,
gradients are very low at ,0.18. Active growth faults
74
Fig. 5. 10 inch 3 airgun proles showing characteristic geometries of key reectors on the middle and outer shelf. (A) shows a , b , d and e
downlap surfaces; in this area, g d . The ofap break (topsetforeset transition in the b d interval) is preserved on the NW side of the Outer
Shelf Growth Fault, but has been eroded at the b reector SE of the fault, where there was less accommodation space. Downlap in the very
thinnest units is subtle. (B) shows erosional channels below the modern seaoor and below the e reector; here, g and d are separate reectors.
Note scours and crossbedding in the channels below a 0.
mostly lack bathymetric expression because of

smoothing of the seabed by local erosion and
deposition.
The shelf edge is a fault scarp where a ,15 m
step in the seabed (Fig. 4) has developed because
sedimentation following the Holocene transgression
has not been able to keep pace with continued hanging-wall subsidence. At depths of more than 200 m,
the descent into the Borneo Trough averages 238,
although locally slopes are more than double the
average. Mass wastage, synsedimentary faulting,
and mud diapirism characterize the slope (unpublished data). Growth faults and mud diapirism are
also common on the shelf (Van Rensbergen et al.,

1999).
4. Widely traceable seismic reections
From top to bottom, widespread key seismic reections in airgun records are named a , b , g , d and e . On
the shelf, these correspond to (1) downlap surfaces
overlain by clinoforms; and/or (2) surfaces along
which underlying clinoforms are erosionally truncated (Fig. 5). These reections are identied on all
airgun seismic proles in this paper, and on 3.5 kHz
75
Fig. 6. Seismic proles correlated with sedimentary facies in a geotechnical borehole 500 m landward of the seismic trackline (Fig. 2), using a
sediment velocity of 1600 m/s. The borehole succession and the seismic proles have the same depth scale. The upper panel is a 10 inch 3 airgun
prole, and ties laterally to the borehole depths. The d and e key reectors coincide with sandy deposits, whereas the Subfacies 3a dipping
reectors are clays with sand and silt laminae and silt pockets (?burrows). The lower panel is an unmarked 3.5 kHz prole at the same vertical
and horizontal scale as the airgun prole.
proles with sufcient penetration. Two additional

prominent reections, named z and h , were locally
recognized below the e reection, but these could not
be traced throughout the survey area because they are
commonly obscured by multiples, or because of insufcient signal penetration.
The high impedance contrasts associated with the
strong key reectors suggest distinct lithologic
changes. Geotechnical borings through the key
reectors on the shelf reveal 27 m-thick, ne- to
medium-grained silty sands or sandy silts (Fig. 6).
The boring reports never describe sedimentary
structures from any sandy facies, presumably because

the unconsolidated sands were retrieved in a disturbed
state. At the depth where one boring crossed the e
reector, water content drops sharply from 50% to
30% [water content weight water/weight solids],
suggesting an unconformity or break in deposition.
Reector e produces a strong reection everywhere
on the shelf, and in most places beneath the slope. On
the shelf, it is a downlap surface [Fig. 5(A)] or is
separated from overlying downlapping reectors by
a thin, reector-free, transparent unit [Fig. 5(B)].
Most proles indicate that this reector is underlain
Fig. 7. 40 inch 3 airgun prole showing progradational-aggradational clinoforms beneath the e reector and onlapping to slowly converging, sub-parallel reectors above. This
prole is just downslope from the large-offset Pufn-Likap shelf-edge growth fault, across which stratigraphic thicknesses decrease dramatically onto the shelf.
76
77
Fig. 8. Proles showing mud-lled shelf channels below the a 0 Holocene ravinement surface, all located on the track map in part C. (A)
3.5 kHz prole from the inner shelf, where a , b , g and d reectors have all been eroded. (B) 3.5 kHz prole showing mud-lled channels cut
into inferred Neogene strata near the crest of the Ampa Anticline. Here, folded strata dip ,38 SW. (C) 10 inch 3 airgun prole across a broad and
deep channel on the inner shelf, likely the paleo-Tutong River valley (compare Fig. 22). The valley is lled with Subfacies 3b deposits that
return continuous, moderate-amplitude reections.
78
Table 3
Summary of facies characteristics and interpreted depositional environments
Facies number, characteristics, and example
gures
Subfacies letter and

geometry (if applicable)
Interpreted depositional environment
1. Reection-free deposits (Fig. 8A), or parallel

low-amplitude reections forming a blanket over
much of the modern seaoor; locally present in
near-surface channel lls; borings recover soft
clay (80100% water) with local silt partings
and silt-lled burrows
Distal prodelta mud, plume deposits, contains

maximum ooding surface
2. Discontinuous, moderate-amplitude
reections at seaoor (Fig. 8B); more acoustic
backscatter than Facies 1; borings recover sandy
silty clays
Current- and wave-reworked highstand muds

and transgressive deposits in equilibrium with
modern shelf hydrodynamics
3. Continuous, low- to moderate-amplitude,

dipping reections (Figs. 5A, 7, 8C); borings in
shelf clinoforms show laminated silty clays with
silt and sand partings and thin beds, silt-lled
burrows, a few shell fragments, and dispersed
organic matter
(a) Clinoforms (,38)

and slope drape
Muddy prodelta and plume deposits
(b) Draping channel ll
Estuarine ll of gradually ooding channels

during transgression
4. Discontinuous to incoherent, locally concave

upward (Figs. 4B, 10B and C), moderate- to
high-amplitude dipping reections with
maximum dips of 5158; dipping reections
resemble crossbedding, lateral accretion deposits
in channels, or steep delta foresets. Borings
through channel lls recover silty to silt-free,
ne- to medium-grained sands with scattered
decayed wood, rare shells, and lenses of clay
(a) channel lls with

lateral accretion
(b) Prograding wedges
5. Continuous to discontinuous, moderateamplitude, lobes lling wavy, shingled to

bundled reections (Figs. 14a, b); restricted to
the ll of the shelf-crossing incised valley;
borings show moderate water contents (,40%)
and silty clay with silt pockets and partings,
some thin sand beds, local shell fragments, plant
and wood fragments
by irregularly bedded or crossbedded deposits that ll

channels cut into the underlying clinoforms [Fig.
5(B)]. At water depths of ,500 m beyond the edge
of the modern shelf, e separates a thick underlying
unit containing clinoforms from overlying evenly
bedded strata that onlap e (Fig. 7). Below depths of
,600 m, e generally occurs within a conformable
succession of evenly bedded strata.
The a , b , g and d reectors all separate sets of
Coarse-grained forced-regressive and lowstand

deltas
Shingled delta lobes llling a major incised

valley during its ooding; also some small
side-entry mini-deltas entering the valley from
the adjacent shelf
clinoforms on the shelf (Fig. 5). They are toplap

surfaces relative to the underlying clinoforms and
downlap surfaces for the overlying clinoforms.
Erosional channels are rare below these four reectors. The sediments between the a and b reectors are
generally very thin, so that downlap geometry is
locally difcult to observe [Fig. 5(A)]. g is not recognized beyond the shelf edge, largely because it downlaps onto the d reector landward of the shelf edge,
79
Fig. 9. Seismic proles over the modern Baram Delta (Facies 1) and the underlying ll of the paleo-Baram incised valley (Facies 5), correlated
with sedimentary facies in a geotechnical borehole 600 m off the seismic trackline using a sediment velocity of 1600 m/s. The borehole
succession and the seismic proles have the same depth scale. The upper panel is a 10 inch 3 airgun prole, and ties laterally to the borehole
depths. The base of the incised-valley ll is assumed to have an age approximately equal to a . This prole is located very close to the valley
margin in Fig. 15(B). The lower panel is an unmarked 3.5 kHz prole at the same vertical and horizontal scale as the airgun prole.
except in the northeastern extremity of the survey

area. The b and d reectors, beyond the shelf edge,
occur in an interval characterized by laterally continuous, moderate amplitude reections that progressively converge with increasing water depth (Figs. 3
and 7).
Reector a is the uppermost downlap surface on
the shelf, but it is only recognized seaward of the
Outer Shelf Growth Fault. Landward of this fault,
numerous channels have cut into the near-surface

sediments and removed a . On either side of the
large-offset Pufn and Pufn-Likap growth faults at
the shelf edge, a is downlapped by steep foresets
(locally 10158) of shelf-margin deltas (Fig. 4).
Beyond the most seaward foreset, a is conformably
overlain by sediments of the delta bottomsets that
return continuous moderate-amplitude reections
[Fig. 4(B)]. Beyond the ,200 m isobath, a underlies
80
a thin reector-free drape that extends over the entire

deep-water part of the survey area. Where a is truncated by erosion on parts of the slope, the reectorfree drape overlies the erosional surface.
Much of the inner and middle shelf was repeatedly
cut by channels (including uvial, distributary, tidal,
and estuarine channels) during the last lowstand of sea
level [Fig. 5(B)]. The channel deposits and interchannel areas are truncated by a widespread at unconformity, called a 0, that has not been mapped like the
deeper reectors a to e because a 0 is very close to
the seabed and cannot be accurately picked in many
of the airgun records. Many 3.5 kHz proles show
that the a 0 reector is an erosional surface that indiscriminately cuts underlying strata and is overlain by
reector-free deposits [Fig. 8(A)].
Toward the inner part of the shelf, the ve key
reectors converge and are eventually lost in
sequence, from youngest to oldest, because of erosion
over the crest of the Ampa Anticline (Figs. 2 and 3).
Locally, inferred Miocene to Pliocene strata below the
erosional surface are covered by only a thin veneer of
Quaternary deposits [Fig. 8(B)]. Elsewhere, a number
of coral patch reefs have developed where the exposed
Neogene strata provide a hard seabed suitable for
colonization (Sandal, 1996; Engbers, 1998, p. 1415).
On the shelf, the widespread key reectors are
interpreted as sandy reworked layers formed by shoreface erosion during transgressions; hence, these are
ravinement surfaces (Swift, 1968). The a , b , g and
d reectors bevel underlying muddy prodelta foresets,
whereas the remarkably at a 0, e and deeper (z , h )
reectors overlie beheaded networks of channels
(Figs. 5 and 8). Analogous shelf-crossing transgressive or ravinement surfaces are described from
many other areas (e.g. Demarest and Kraft, 1987;
Aksu et al., 1992; Piper and Aksu, 1992; Allen and
Posamentier, 1994; Thomas and Anderson, 1994;

Saito, 1994; Aksu et al., 1999).
5. Acoustic and sedimentary facies
Table 2 summarizes criteria used to classify and
describe acoustic facies. On the inner to middle
shelf, 15 geotechnical borings (Fig. 2) provide
ground-truth for the identication of sedimentary
facies characteristics. The main acoustic facies are
described and interpreted below. Subfacies are recognized where reection attributes are the same, but the
external form is not. Inferred depositional environments are summarized in Table 3.
5.1. Facies 1: reection-free, or characterized by
parallel low-amplitude reections
Deposits of Facies 1 are widespread surcial sediments on the shelf and slope [Fig. 8(A)]. The modern
Baram prodelta is formed of this facies. Facies 1 either
lacks reectors or has weak, discontinuous, parallel
reectors. Usually this facies forms a widespread
blanket, although it locally partly lls channels just
below the seaoor [Fig. 8(B)]. On the shelf, the Facies
1 blanket overlies the a 0 unconformity. Deeply
buried examples of this facies rest atop the e reector
in parts of the survey area [Fig. 5(B)]. Geotechnical
borings (Fig. 9) show Facies 1 to consist of soft clay
with local silt partings and pockets (probably siltlled burrows), and with scattered shell fragments.
Water contents are 80100%.
Widespread blankets of Facies 1 are interpreted as
clay-rich prodelta mud. On the inner shelf, this mud is
particularly thick because of continued supply from
the prograding Baram Delta. Elsewhere, this mud
is largely relict, having been deposited during the
Fig. 10. Proles across inferred uvial channels with lateral-accretion deposits. (A) 10 inch 3 airgun prole showing stacked channels in the
hanging wall of a growth fault near the shelf edge. Note that channels containing Subfacies 4a deposits are situated beneath the a reector.
Younger, post-a channels contain Subfacies 3b deposits and some 4a deposits (close to the fault). (B) 3.5 kHz prole of channels beneath the
a 0 Holocene ravinement surface on the inner shelf. Moderate- to high-amplitude discontinuous reections are returned by lateral-accretion
deposits of Subfacies 4a, ,20 ms (,15 m) thick. The opposed dip directions shown here are typical of point-bar deposits of meandering rivers
with high sinuosity. (C) 10 inch 3 airgun prole showing lateral-accretion deposits of Subfacies 4a. Based on geometry of the laterally shingled
point-bar surfaces, the channel was ,1520 m deep and ,400600 m wide. Internal erosional surfaces and changes in the amount of dip
indicate that the inll of the channel is composite. (D) 10 inch 3 airgun prole showing a step on the seaoor of the middle shelf caused by local
erosion, and a complex of deep, variably reective channel deposits below the e reector. In this area, there is an unmapped toplap surface
,7 ms below the d reector that may indicate a local, second delta lobe between the e and d reectors. Peering along the prole at a low angle,
from left to right, clearly reveals downlap onto the d , e , and z reections.
81
82
Holocene transgression as the shoreline retreated

landward. Except in the area of progradation of the
modern Baram Delta, the Holocene maximum ooding surface is inferred to be very close to the seabed,
in the upper part of the Facies 1 mud. Where Facies 1
forms part of the inll of channels, it is interpreted as
mud that settled from suspension in either abandoned
channels or tidal channels with sluggish ow. In cores
or outcrops, this occurrence of acoustic Facies 1
would have different fauna, organic content, and/or
burrows than the Facies 1 blanket atop the a 0 ravinement surface.
5.2. Facies 2: discontinuous, moderate-amplitude
reections
Deposits of Facies 2 are locally present above a 0,
either directly below the seaoor [Fig. 8(B)] or below
Facies 1. Geotechnical borings indicate sandy, silty
clays. In parts of the outer shelf where geotechnical
borings are unavailable, 3.5 kHz proles in this acoustic facies show little penetration and high backscatter.
Facies 2 is interpreted as a siltier or sandier (outer
shelf) lateral equivalent of acoustic Facies 1, formed
during transgression or under present hydrographic
conditions. These current- and wave-reworked deposits show enhanced reectivity and backscatter because
of coarser grain size than Facies 1. Reector discontinuity is attributed to lenticular and irregular bedding
in current-reworked deposits.
5.3. Facies 3: continuous, low- to moderateamplitude, dipping reections
Facies 3 is divided into two subfacies with similar
reection characteristics but different external form.
Subfacies 3a characterizes clinoform units over much
of the shelf and uppermost slope (Figs. 4 and 5) and
seaward-inclined and seaward-tapering units on the
rest of the slope (Fig. 7). The clinoforms on the
shelf have maximum dips of 1.52.58. Where bottom
gradients change abruptly on parts of the slope, the
thickness of this facies is essentially unaffected, indicating that it is indeed a drape. The rationale for
grouping shelf and slope deposits into the same acoustic subfacies is that texture is likely to be very similar
if the acoustic properties are the same. Features that
would likely permit distinction of these deposits
in outcrops or cores (e.g. sedimentary structures,
fauna) cannot be extracted from the seismic data,

and therefore cannot be used to split the deposits
into different acoustic facies.
Several geotechnical borings through the Subfacies
3a clinoforms recovered laminated silty clays with
thin beds or partings of silt and sand, silt-lled
`pockets' (burrows), a few shell fragments, and
dispersed organic matter (Fig. 6). These deposits are
interpreted as prodelta muds deposited from surfaceand mid-water plumes of mud-load rivers. The coarser
interbeds may also be plume deposits in proximal
areas, or the deposits of hyperpycnal (bottomhugging) density currents in distal areas.
Subfacies 3b is restricted to a number of nearsurface channels beneath the modern shelf
[Figs. 8(A), (C) and 10(A)]. Continuous reectors
onlap channel margins, are commonly concave
upward because of differential compaction, and are
truncated at the top of each channel-ll by a 0 (the
Holocene ravinement surface), generally within
10 ms of the seaoor. The muddy character of Subfacies 3b suggests estuarine inll of the distal reaches of
uvial channels inundated by the Holocene transgression. These deposits accumulated above the transgressive surface, seaward of the bayline as dened by
Allen and Posamentier (1994).
5.4. Facies 4: discontinuous to incoherent, locally
concave upward or downward, moderate- to highamplitude dipping reections
This facies is divided into two subfacies. On the
shelf, acoustic Subfacies 4a occurs in channels
beneath a 0 [Figs. 5 and 10(A)(C)], or in more
deeply buried channels beneath the e or older key
reectors [Fig. 10(D)]. Some Subfacies 4a reections
are incoherent (chaotic), although others have consistent dips that suggest lateral-accretion deposition in
migrating channels, or large-scale crossbedding.
Maximum apparent dips in these channel-ll deposits
are 6108. Several geotechnical borings penetrate
Subfacies 4a channel deposits. The recovered sediment is silty ne- to medium-grained sand with layers
and lenses of silty clay, pieces of wood, and rare shells
(Fig. 11). The textural range of three sand subsamples
is 017% clay, 020% silt, 2083% ne-grained
sand, and 780% medium-grained sand.
A unique variant of Subfacies 4a occurs at a water
83
Fig. 11. Seismic proles over a channel lled with lateral-accretion deposits (Subfacies 4a), correlated with sedimentary facies in a geotechnical borehole 700 m landward of the seismic trackline (i.e. upchannel) using a sediment velocity of 1600 m/s. The borehole succession and the
seismic proles have the same depth scale. The upper panel is a 10 inch 3 airgun prole, and ties laterally to the borehole depths. Key reectors
a to g are all eroded at this location. The lower panel is an unmarked 3.5 kHz prole at the same vertical and horizontal scale as the airgun
prole.
depth of ,180 m just beyond the shelf edge, near the

rim of the Baram Canyon (Fig. 12). Here, the dip
directions of individual crossbed sets were determined
where strike- and dip-oriented survey tracks cross.
These dips form two modes, ,1808 apart; the bidirectional pattern is therefore indicative of a bimodal
bipolar paleocurrent distribution.
At the shelf edge, nonchannelized Subfacies 4b

forms areally restricted sets of clinoforms with maximum true dips of 8158 (Figs. 4 and 13). Hierarchical
stacking of smaller to larger clinoform sets with dips of
,18 (1st order), ,2.58 (2nd order) and ,78 occurs
locally [Fig. 13(B)]. The topsetforeset transition
(ofap break of Vail et al., 1991) is generally preserved
84
Fig. 12. Crossing seismic proles showing bidirectionally crossbedded channel-ll deposits of Subfacies 4a beyond the modern shelf edge and
near the rim of the Baram Canyon, overlain by prodeltaic Subfacies 3a muds deposited in an inferred lagoon formed in a hanging-wall structural
moat. (A) 10 inch 3 airgun strike prole. At track crossings, true maximum dips of crossbedding were determined to be bimodal-bipolar (i.e.
1808 opposed). The channel margin rises to the NE so that at Fix 1932 [Fig. 13(B); 500 m NE], the edge of the channel lies above progradationalaggradational foresets of a shelf-edge delta. (B) 40 inch 3 airgun dip prole showing a structural depression in the hanging wall of the
large-offset Pufn Fault, landward of inferred tidal-channel deposits of Subfacies 4a. This structural depression may have accommodated a
lagoon behind a sand-prone barrier island that was entirely underlain by deposits of migrating tidal inlets. The depression has since been lled
by a mud wedge of the late-lowstand Baram Delta.
Fig. 13. Climbing topset-foreset transitions in sand-prone shelf-edge deltas (Subfacies 4b), all located on the track map in part A. (A) 10 inch 3
airgun prole across the front of the northeastern-most shelf-edge delta. The Subfacies 3a deposits onlapped the inactive delta front as
transgression inundated the shelf, but are now truncated at the seaoor. See part C for detail. (B) 10 inch 3 airgun prole cutting obliquely
across descending crossbed sets in a shelf-edge delta lobe. The corresponding dip view is shown in Fig. 4A. Even though individual cross-sets
descend, the topsetforeset transition climbs toward the NE. The `disrupted' deposits appear to include slumps at the base and complex scourand-ll crossbedding at the top. First-, second-, and third-order surfaces dip at ,18, 2.58, and ,78, respectively (determined at crossing tracks).
Deposits in the channel that terminates near Fix 1932 are shown in Fig. 12A. (C) 3.5 kHz prole showing details of Subfacies 3a prodelta
clinoforms formed and then erosively truncated during the Holocene transgression. The clinoforms contain a swarm of curved normal faults,
spaced ,50 m apart. Broader context is shown in part A.
85
86
[Fig. 4(B) is an exception], and climbs in a seaward

direction. A gamma-ray log (Fig. 14) of the near-surface
clinoforms above a indicates that they consist of sandy
deposits.
Facies 4 deposits are likely heterolithic, with alternating mud and sand beds believed to account for the
impedance contrasts responsible for the moderate- to
high-amplitude reections. Geotechnical borings on
the shelf conrm that sand is the predominant component. Subfacies 4a mostly has the characteristics of
meandering uvial point-bar deposits, including
lateral-accretion bedding. Seabed amplitude-extraction
maps from 3D seismic datasets in this area indeed show
planform meanders just below the seabed (BSP proprietary reports). The bases of the channels are at ,245 m
and ,2115 m beneath the inner and outer shelf, respectfully (Ho Ik Sing, 1998), consistent with the seawarddescending graded prole of a meandering river channel.
The single occurrence of Subfacies 4a having
Depth below drilling platform (m)
0
150
200
API gamma
120
~seafloor
Shelf-edge
delta
CU
mud
sand
300
Fig. 14. Gamma-ray prole (logging-while-drilling) through a shelfedge delta in the same position as those shown in Figs. 4 and 13, but
not named nor located precisely for proprietary reasons. Low
natural gamma-ray values conrm that Subfacies 4b is sand. The
coarsening upward (CU) signature is typical of prograding deltas.
bimodalbipolar crossbedding [Fig. 12(A)] is interpreted

as a tidal-inlet deposit. Sands of the lowstand delta in this
area [Fig. 13(B)] were apparently redistributed by tidal
currents. These deposits are restricted to shelf-edge
channels near the rim of the Baram Canyon. These channels are just outboard of the large-offset Pufn Fault
where there might have been a seabed scarp even at
the end of the last lowstand. A tidal prism sufcient to
generate strong tidal currents requires a large intertidal
zone or lagoon landward of tidal inlets. Near the largeoffset shelf-edge growth fault, backward rotation of the
hanging-wall block provided a depression in which a
lagoon may have been established [Fig. 12(B)]. Track
density in this area is not sufcient to map out the limits
of the inferred lagoon.
Subfacies 4b forms steep-fronted sand-prone shelfedge deltas. Stacking of rst-order clinoforms
containing second-order foresets of steeper dip [Fig.
13(B)] suggests shingling of successive delta lobes
during combined progradationaggradation (topset
foreset transitions climb through time). The same
effect is seen in proles with only one order of clinoforms [Fig. 13(A)]: topsetforeset transitions clearly
climb in the seaward direction. This progressive climb
could have resulted from (1) continued delta progradation as global sea level began to rise after a glacioeustatic lowstand (Helland-Hansen and Martinsen,
1996); and/or (2) rapid subsidence of the hanging
wall of shelf-edge growth faults during a global sealevel still-stand. Rapid subsidence is the favoured
mechanism, because the most seaward topsetforeset
transition is in water depths of ,180 m, about 65 m
deeper than the widely accepted late Pleistocene minimum sea level of ,2115 m (Fairbanks, 1989). The
cumulative post-a offset across growth faults landward of the 180 m isobath is ,75 m (Fig. 3). The
most seaward topsetforeset transition is younger
than a , so that somewhat less than 75 m subsidence
has occurred since delta abandonment. It is proposed
that the deltas indeed formed when global sea level
stood at ,2115 m, after which subsidence of ,65 m
along major growth faults carried the deltas into
deeper water.
5.5. Facies 5: continuous to discontinuous, moderateamplitude, wavy, shingled to bundled reections
This acoustic facies is restricted to the upper part
87
Fig. 15. Ten inch 3 airgun proles across the northeastern margin of the paleo-Baram incised valley on the inner shelf, where it is lled by
deposits of the transgressive systems tract (TST) of the 184 ka Baram Delta. (A) Downlapping and onlapping reectors of Facies 5 overlie
basal valley ll consisting of Subfacies 4a. The valley wall is formed of a series of steps. The surface tapered wedge of reector-free deposits is
part of the modern Baram prodelta. Reectors a 0 through e are all missing here because of erosion. Only the deeper z reector is present. (B)
Facies 5 wedge-shaped deposits in the valley ll include a stack of at-topped units with valley-facing steep margins and subtle internal
clinoforms. These are interpreted (inset) as mini-deltas deposited by small streams that entered the valley from the adjacent shelf, backstepping
as sea level rose.
of the inll of the paleo-Baram incised valley, a

large feature in front of the modern Baram Delta
[Fig. 1(B)]. The lower part of the valley inll consists
of Subfacies 4a. Groups, or sets of reectors form
lenses or wedges in the valley-ll succession which
onlap the valley wall and locally downlap onto
older wedges (Fig. 15). Close to the modern shoreline,
this facies is overlain by Facies 1 deposits of the
modern Baram Delta. Three geotechnical borings
sample Facies 5 (Fig. 9). It has a distinctly lower
water content than the overlying Baram prodelta
(,40% instead of .70%). The sediment consists of
silty clay with silt pockets and partings, some thin
sand beds, local shell fragments, plant and wood
fragments.
Facies 5 deposits are interpreted as a conned lobe

of the paleo-Baram Delta that lled the incised valley
as sea level rose to the Holocene highstand. This can
be viewed as a large bay-head delta (Dalrymple et al.,
1992). This delta may have accumulated during a
number of pauses in the transgression (cf. Thomas
and Anderson, 1994), and because of its location in
a conned ooded valley it may include tidal deposits.
There are insufcient crossing lines to establish the
detailed internal architecture of this valley-lling
delta. It presumably consists of a series of backstepping sublobes deposited as the shoreline was
forced landward. Mounded, bundled and locally
downlapping reector sets [Fig. 15(A)] are each likely
sublobes of the delta. This valley-lling lobe overlies
88
Fig. 16. Contoured thickness, in metres, of soft TST muds lling a southward-draining dendritic channel that emptied into the paleo-Baram
incised valley. See Fig. 2 for location.
the transgressive surface and underlies the maximum

ooding surface.
Wedge-shaped deposits at the valley margin, with
weakly developed clinoforms, are interpreted as the
deltas of small side-entry uvial channels which
entered the valley as it was progressively ooded
[Fig. 15(B)]. Detailed mapping of acoustic facies for
a well-site survey on the rim of the valley shows a
dendritic channel network (Fig. 16), now lled with
reector-free to weakly reective very soft clay. The
dendritic channels drained southward (i.e. landward in
a regional sense), away from the then-exposed shelf
and toward the incised valley. The clay inll is Facies
1 estuarine mud that inlls many drowned shelf channels [Fig. 8(A) and (B)].
5.6. Overprinting structures
New facies or subfacies are not dened if postdepositional effects have disturbed the original sediment. In many proles from the shelf, near-surface
gas either locally blanks out reections or produces

enhanced reections parallel or oblique to bedding
[Fig. 13(A)]. At the seaward limit of shelf-edge deltas,
Subfacies 3a silty muds that onlap these deltas have
locally failed along a closely spaced `family' of faults
[Fig. 13(C)]; the sediment in this area may also be
creeping downslope.
6. Chronology
No piston cores are available from the study area,
and geotechnical cores for well-site surveys have
traditionally been discarded by BSP. Because organic
samples were not available, no radiocarbon dates exist
to constrain the ages of the deposits imaged in seismic
proles. Instead, chronology is tentatively based on
inferred sea-level history and biostratigraphy from
exploration wells (see below). Even if samples were
available, the effective upper limit of ,50 ka on
radiocarbon dating means that much of the thick
89
Fig. 17. 10 inch 3 airgun prole near the edge of the shelf, with the Pufn-1 exploratory well projected into the prole from ,800 m northeast.
Key reections a through h are labelled; similar deeper prominent reections are marked but not labelled. Oxygen isotopic stages have been
assigned to the succession based on an assumption that prominent reectors which regionally overlie stacked uvial channels formed during the
main post-glacial transgressions. Ages of oxygen-isotopic stage boundaries from Imbrie et al. (1984).
Quaternary section could not be dated using this technique. The shallowly buried shelf channels beneath
a 0 and the shelf-edge deltas of Facies 4, are inferred
to have formed during the last lowstand of global sea
level, from ,7012 ka (oxygen-isotopic stages 42;
Imbrie et al., 1984). The next oldest widespread
reector that is similarly underlain by an extensive
network of channels is the e reector. By analogy
with a 0, the e reector is inferred to date from
,130 ka (i.e. the transgression following isotopic
stage 6).
The hypothesis that e dates from ,130 ka is
supported by biostratigraphic data from exploration
wells Pufn-1 and Parak-1, which are located in an

area of expanded stratigraphy just landward of the
shelf edge (Fig. 2). Agedepth plots of a number of
nannofossil and foraminifera datums, ranging in age
from 800 ka to 1.0 Ma, suggest long-term accumulation rates of 4050 cm per thousand years (S. van
Heck, pers. comm., 1999). The airgun prole that
passes ,800 m to the southwest of the Pufn-1 wellhead (Fig. 17) has the e reector at 147 ms below the
seaoor (msbsf) and six similar prominent reectors
(e.g. z , h ) below this level, down to 480 msbsf. The z
and h reectors, elsewhere on the shelf, overlie
stacked channel deposits [Figs. 10(D) and 15(B)]
90
Upward
Landward
Shoreline Trajectories
Downward
Landward
Upward
Seaward
Downward
Seaward
2
cle
Cy
Fluvial channels
Delta distributary
Surface of maximum transgression

Surface of maximum regression
Continental sediments
Shoreline sandstones
(delta front deposits)
Subaerial unconformity
Correlative conformity to the
subaerial unconformity
Ravinement surface
Fig. 18. Stratigraphic relationships between systems tracts 14, key bounding surfaces, and a depositional cycle bounded by ravinement
surfaces (used in this paper). Adapted from Helland-Hansen and Martinsen (1996, their gure 13B). All sediments not marked as continental or
shorelines sandstones are marine shales. 1, lowstand wedge systems tract; 2, transgressive systems tract; 3, highstand systems tract; 4, forced
regressive systems tract. Offshore Brunei (see Fig. 23), a typical depositional cycle includes more than one prograding unit of clinoforms, each
corresponding to one of a set of highstand deltas.
and, therefore, are reasonably ascribed to preHolocene post-glacial transgressions. Deposits

immediately below the deeper strong reectors are
not clearly imaged, but these reectors are also
tentatively assumed to have formed during major
post-glacial transgressions because their geometry
and amplitude are similar to those that characterize
the e reector.
If successively older strong reectors are
assigned, sequentially, the ages of progressively
older glacialinterglacial transitions (Fig. 17), then
an accumulation rate of 5060 cm per thousand
years can be determined. [To convert depths in
milliseconds to depths in metres, an average seismic
velocity of 1600 m/s was used (Sandal, 1996,
p. 153)]. This rate compares favourably with the
biostratigraphically constrained 4050 cm per

thousand years, and supports the hypothesis that
each prominent shelf-crossing reector that overlies
a channelled surface (e.g. a 0, e , z , h ) formed during
a post-glacial transgression. Other widespread
reectors that are not associated with channels
(e.g. b , g , d ) are not believed to have such signicance, and instead are interpreted to have formed by
transgressive bevelling of the tops of highstand
deltas following lobe abandonment. The biostratigraphic constraints provided by the Pufn-1 data
validate the hypothesis that the deposits between
the e and a 0 reectors accumulated during a single
eustatic cycle beginning at the stage 65 transgression (,130 ka) and ending at the Holocene transgression (,18 ka).
7. Thickness distributions of allostratigraphic units

Depositional cycles in continental-margin sediments are bounded by widely traceable surfaces
having chronostratigraphic signicance. Vail et al.
(1977) advocated the use of surfaces of subaerial
erosion and correlative marine surfaces of conformity
for this purpose (i.e. sequence boundaries). Galloway
(1989) preferred to use maximum ooding surfaces,
bounding what he called `genetic depositional
sequences'. In the Quaternary succession offshore
Brunei, the most prominent reectors are ravinement surfaces, which are generally coincident with
transgressive surfaces on the shelf. The maximum
ooding surface is very close to the ravinement
surface and the transgressive surface because transgressive systems tract (TST) deposits are very thin
offshore Brunei, except in the paleo-Baram incised
valley.
A feature of the Brunei offshore succession that is
not predicted by the more popular sequence stratigraphic models is the presence of thick forced-regressive deposits, particularly near the shelf edge (Fig. 4).
In contrast, forced-regressive deposits are central to
the stratigraphic models of Helland-Hansen and
Martinsen (1996) (Fig. 18). In developing their
models, Helland-Hansen and Martinsen (1996)
emphasized shoreline trajectories, which are the
angles at which the paleo-shoreline migrates through
a cross-section like Fig. 18. Upward-and-seawarddirected trajectories characterize highstands (subsidence accounts for the relative sea-level rise during
progradation), whereas downward-and-seawarddirected trajectories characterize forced regressions
(Fig. 18 inset). Just before the turnaround from regression to transgression, seaward-directed shoreline
trajectories cease to fall and begin to climb, separating
the forced regressive systems tract (FRST) from the
lowstand systems tract (LST). Helland-Hansen and
Martinsen (1996) use this change to dene the surface
of correlative conformity along which EXXON
sequence boundaries should extend basinward. They
argue that because relative sea level at this time begins
to rise, vigorous erosion at the more landward subaerial unconformity should cease. However, offshore
Brunei the transition from downward-and-seawarddirected to upward-and-seaward-directed shoreline
trajectories in regressive shelf-edge deltas [Figs. 4(A)
91
and 13(A)] is inferred to result mainly from enhanced

subsidence seaward of major growth faults, not from a
mainly external sea-level control. Hence, the tracing of
classic sequence boundaries (Vail et al., 1977)
remains ambiguous in conformable prodelta muds
beyond the shelf edge and is not advocated for the
Brunei shelf. Instead, the fundamental surface
selected as a cycle boundary in this paper consists
of a ravinement surface atop lowstand channels on
the shelf paired with the maximum regressive surface
farther seaward (where the maximum regressive
surface is `a conformable surface, separating regressive deposits below from transgressive deposits
above. It corresponds to the time of turn[around] of
the shoreline in a maximum seaward position',
Helland-Hansen and Martinsen, 1996, p. 680).
Because the cycle boundaries are locally unconformities (i.e. ravinement surfaces), each depositional cycle
ts Walker's (1992) denition of an allostratigraphic
unit.
The surface of maximum regression is a time line,
whereas the ravinement surface is slightly diachronous. All other potential sequence boundaries are
also diachronous (Christie-Blick, 1991; HellandHansen and Martinsen, 1996). Even maximum ooding may occur at different times along a basin margin
because of variable sediment supply.
The a 0, a , b , g , d , e , z and h key reectors are all
interpreted as ravinement surfaces on the shelf, but
only the a 0, e , z and h reectors qualify as cycle
boundaries because they are underlain by lowstand
channel networks. Deposition between e time and
the Holocene is inferred to have occurred during a
global sea-level highstand (e b time). Subsequent
glacio-eustatic sea-level fall caused a gradual forced
regression that ended with progradation of sand-prone
shelf-edge deltas (b time to the 18 ka onset of the
Holocene transgression).
Thickness of the post-e wedge of sediments (Fig. 3)
shows the strong inuence of growth faults in providing accommodation space, particularly between the
Outer Shelf Growth Fault and a point ,1020 km
beyond the shelf edge. Greatest thicknesses are just
beyond the shelf edge where hanging-wall subsidence
and backward rotation on the Pufn and Pufn-Likap
growth faults have created a continously subsiding
seaoor presently separated from the shelf by a
15 m-high fault scarp (Fig. 4).
92
HS
20
km
LS
<
30
's
60
60 0
6
60
30 30
<
30
30
(TWT in ms)
14
0
Canyo
5 20' N
to
40
50
40
50
60
70
90
70
130's
190
190
10
20
70
80
elf
r Sh
Oute th Fault
Grow
20
60
10
70
60
50
20
10
80
70
30
ern 25
Mod Edge
lf
She
n
der ge
Mo lf Ed
e
Sh
0
50
140
40
30
12
200
5 N
60
60
20
10
Baram
40
70
clin
40
pa
ti
An
Am
Edge of
Incised Valley
Down-to-basin normal faults
4 40' N
Counter-regional faults
o
113 40' E
114 E
Se
oth
b d
&
de
ero
Clinoform true dip
ria
eroded
114 20' E
Fig. 19. Contour map of equal two-way-traveltime (TWT) between the e and d reectors. Contours each 10 ms. Areas thicker than 70 ms are
shaded. Values of DTWT cannot be determined where either reector is eroded (patterned or labelled areas). True clinoform dip directions
determined at crossing lines from two apparent dips. Inset shows inferred eustatic sea-level variation during accumulation of these deposits,
with time running from left to right. P, Pufn-1 well location.
7.1. e to d allostratigraphic unit

The oldest mapped clinoform package (e d ; Fig.
19) is as thick as 40 ms (,30 m) on the middle shelf.
It is progressively eroded closer to shore by younger
channels. True dip directions of clinoforms (determined from apparent dips at crossing lines) show
that the e d delta was lobate and of similar scale to
the modern Baram Delta (compare Fig. 1). The thickness of the unit increases dramatically in the moat
seaward of the shelf edge, locally exceeding 200 ms
(,150 m). The seaward limit of the delta topset must
locally have been beyond the current shelf edge, even
though the thick clinoforms on the shelf show this to
be a `highstand' delta (Fig. 19 `cycle' inset). As

evidence of this major seaward progradation,
uniformly thick clinoforms are truncated by the Pufn
and Pufn-Likap growth faults at the shelf edge [Fig.
4(B)]. Slowly converging reectors in prodelta muds
seaward of the shelf edge indicate signicant deposition on the slope from suspended-load plumes and
possibly hyperpycnal ows exiting delta distributaries. These distributaries are apparently not
preserved, as the slow transgression that occurred
following lobe abandonment (caused by compactional
subsidence) planed off the top of the delta in most
places (i.e. ravinement), particularly landward of the
Outer Shelf Growth Fault.
93
n
e
der dg
Mo elf E
h
S
80
60
HS
LS
to
80
5 N
abs
10
5
ent
0
10
15
20
10
10
10
elf
Sh
dge
25
10
25
35
elf
r Sh
Oute th Fault
Grow
P
<20
<2
0
( DTWT in ms)
60
60
60
50
Inc
ise
15
dV
all
ey
Clinoform true dip
20
km
Se
ria
b only eroded
& eroded
4 40' N
113 40' E
114 20' E
114 E
n e
der dg
Mo elf E
Sh 5
HS
10
LS
to
( TWT in ms)
50
30
elf
r Sh
Oute th Fault
Grow
30
20
20
40
n
der
Mo Edge
f
l
e
Sh
10
10
-1
Inc
ise
d
30
30
5 N
15
15
Va
lle
y
Clinoform true dip
km
20
Se
ria
only eroded
& eroded
4 40' N
113 40' E
114 E
114 20' E
Fig. 20. Contour maps of equal two-way-traveltime (TWT) for delta lobes d to g and g to b (shaded where present in each map). The g
reector is only recognized on the shelf. Contours each 5 ms. Values of DTWT cannot be determined where either reector is eroded (patterned
areas explained in key, and landward of these areas where indicated by patterned arrows). True clinoform dip directions determined at crossing
lines from two apparent dips. Insets show inferred eustatic sea-level variation during accumulation of these deposits, with time running from
left to right. P, Pufn-1 well location.
7.2. d to b allostratigraphic unit

During d b time, two major delta lobes accumulated on what is now the Brunei shelf (Fig. 20). The
oldest d g delta is lobate and offset to the east of the

underlying e d lobate delta (compare Figs. 18 and
19). The zero-edge of thickness of the d g lobe
barely reached the shelf edge before this lobe was
94
HS
20
km
LS
to
40
80
Baram
C
60
00
0
10 00
1
>1
10
80
100
100
0
14
180
<
160
160
180
260
> 20
0
10 80
< 20
20
160
120
120
00
40
12
100
5 N
(TWT in ms)
60
anyon
5 20' N
40
n
der e
Mo lf Edg
e
Sh
elf
r Sh
Oute th Fault
Grow
> 20
> 20
> 20
20
n
der e
Mo lf Edg
e
Sh
Inc
ise
eroded
all
ey
ria
& eroded
Clinoform true dip
Se
4 40' N
dV
o
113 40' E
114 E
114 20' E
Fig. 21. Contour map of equal two-way-traveltime (TWT) between the b and a reectors. Contours each 20 ms. Values of DTWT cannot be
determined where either reector is eroded (patterned areas). True clinoform dip directions determined at crossing lines from two apparent
dips. Inset shows inferred eustatic sea-level variation during accumulation of these deposits, with time running from left to right. P, Pufn-1
well location.
abandoned and the g b lobe developed. The g b

delta has a complicated shape on the shelf because
of the presence of the underlying d g lobe. Directly
atop the d g lobe, reduced accommodation space
prevented deposition of sediments of g b age.
The entire d b package is thickest in a shelf-edge
basin at the northeastern edge of the survey area, and
in the deep moat just beyond the shelf edge. The most
seaward topset-foreset transition was beyond the
modern shelf edge [Fig. 4(A)].
7.3. b to a allostratigraphic unit
Deposits between the b and a reectors are only
fully preserved seaward of the Outer Shelf Growth Fault

(Fig. 21); farther landward, younger channels eroded
the top of this unit, eventually removing it entirely.
Even near the shelf edge, this unit is thin. Near the
modern shelf edge, channels lled with Subfacies 4a
deposits underlie the a reector [Fig. 10(A), Fix
2199]; these are presumably feeder channels for the
b a clinoforms and deeper water deposits. The thinness of shelf deposits in this unit and the local presence
of uvial channels cutting its top suggest dramatically
reduced accommodation space on the shelf, in spite of
continued subsidence. This is taken as evidence for the
initiation of glacio-eustatic sea-level fall (Fig. 21 `cycle'
inset).
95
20
km
HS

LS
o
5 20' N
Eastern
lobe
20
40
40
40
40
60
60
60 80
<
of y
s lle
ge Va
Ed ed
s
ci
In
o
> 20
> 20
0
20
40
Channels from
seabed 3D amplitudes
Clinoform true dips
113 40' E
elf
r Sh
Oute th Fault
Grow
Mo
d
stri ern de
ppe
d o lta
ff
ria
20
eroded
4 40' N
rn
de
MoEdge
lf
he
Se
rn
de ge
Mo lf Ed
e
Sh
20
20 0
2
<
5 N
20
> 20
60
40
paleo-Baram
lowstand mud wedge
40
40
120
60
20
80
40
20
40
Western
lobe
Seafloor to
(TWT in ms)
o
mod
114 E
e
prodrn Baram
elta
114 20' E
Fig. 22. Contour map of equal two-way-traveltime (TWT) between the seaoor and the a reector, except on the inner shelf where the
thickness of the modern Baram prodelta above a 0 (shaded area) was subtracted before contouring in the incised valley. Contours each 20 ms.
Beyond the shelf edge, areas thicker than 80 ms are shaded. Values of DTWT cannot be determined where the a reector is eroded (patterned
area). True clinoform dip directions determined at crossing lines from two apparent dips. Inset shows inferred eustatic sea-level variation
during accumulation of these deposits, with time running from left to right. P, Pufn-1 well location.
Beyond the modern shelf edge, wedges of reectors

of Subfacies 3a in the b a unit suggest progradation,
aggradation, and lateral shifting of a number of
muddy delta lobes [Fig. 4(B)]. Much of this interval
may consist of plume deposits from a large mud-load
river. The lack of signicant accommodation space on
the shelf enhanced accumulation of these sediments in
the moat seaward of the shelf-edge growth faults.
7.4. a to seaoor allostratigraphic unit

The top of this allostratigraphic unit should really
be the ravinement a 0, not the seaoor. However, the
thin Holocene post-a 0 mud is poorly imaged in many
airgun proles on the shelf, so it was not routinely
separated from immediately underlying deposits. On
the outer shelf where the seabed is sandy, a 0 is not
96
imaged in 3.5 kHz proles so it could not be mapped.

On the distal slope, the Holocene mud drape could not
be condently distinguished from underlying muds,
so a 0 was generally not mapped. For these reasons,
this youngest allostratigraphic unit is extended above
a 0 to the seaoor.
Fundamental changes in sediment supply to the
Brunei shelf occurred during the deposition of this
allostratigraphic unit (Fig. 22). With dropping global
sea level, an incised valley (,15 km wide at its rim
and ,45 m deep) was cut across the shelf by the
Baram River. As a result, the Baram River and
its sediment load began to bypass the shelf to be
deposited in the vicinity of the head of the Baram
Canyon [Fig. 1(B)]. Sediment-laden plumes from
the lowstand Baram River may have entered the
Baram Canyon as hyperpycnal ows, leading to
wholesale bypass of the shelf. Delta-front deposits
that had accumulated on unstable slopes at the head
of the canyon probably failed, on a regular basis, and
generated efcient, mud-load turbidity currents that
bypassed the slope and deposited their load in the
Borneo Trough. At one point during the lowstand, a
large mass of deltaic (?and older) sediments is
believed to have collapsed to form the thick, mounded
debris-ow deposit that presently covers the oor of
the canyon and extensive areas farther seaward (BSP
proprietary report; unpublished data). Although the
lowstand delta itself is not preserved because of
mass wasting, the thick tongue of Subfacies 3a and
Facies 1 deposits above a at the canyon rim, seaward
of the Pufn Fault [Fig. 12(A) at F1919; the depression ll of Fig. 12(B); Fig. 22], is interpreted to be a
remnant of the muddy lowstand prodelta that accumulated in a protected, structurally-formed embayment,
or lagoon.
The Belait River also must have been captured by
the incised valley. Only smaller rivers to the northeast
like the Tutong River would have continued to ow
toward the shelf edge. For example, 3D-seismic
amplitude-extraction maps on the seabed reection
show a belt of meandering channels leading landward
from the eastern-most shelf-edge delta (Fig. 22),
around a rough surface of outcropping Neogene
deposits, and then toward the modern mouth of the
Tutong River (BSP proprietary data).
Bypass of the Baram River outow across the
Brunei shelf had four main results.
1. Reduced sediment supply to this area of rapid

compaction-driven subsidence promoted a shortduration transgression on the outer shelf, forming
the a ravinement surface.
2. Small-volume lowstand deltas formed (downlapping onto the a reector) but were unable to
prograde as far seaward as some underlying
muddy highstand deltas (Fig. 7).
3. The volume of deposits beyond the Outer Shelf
Growth Fault plummeted relative to volumes that
accumulated during the preceding highstand
(compare Fig. 22 with Figs. 19 and 21), even
though the highstand and lowstand had similar
durations (Fig. 17 age column). This is explained
by the dramatically lower sediment discharge
(Table 1) of, say, the Tutong River compared
with the Baram River, which was now bypassing
the shelf.
4. The sediments supplied to uvial channels on the
shelf and the shelf-edge deltas ceased to reect the
mud-dominated Baram load, and became more
sand-prone (Subfacies 4b instead of Subfacies 3a
deltas).
The widths of distributary channels feeding the
shelf-edge delta lobes are approximated by the widths
of erosional cuts through the a reector seaward of
the Outer Shelf Growth Fault (Fig. 22); these are quite
narrow, consistent with small rivers. Seaward of these
channels, there are two sand-prone delta lobes, one to
the east with thicknesses .100 ms [Fig. 13(A)], and
the other to the west of the Pufn-1 well that is
,70 ms thick (Fig. 4). These two small, sand-prone
shelf-edge deltas were unable to prograde very far
seaward because of high rates of hanging-wall subsidence. Instead, enhanced thicknesses of foreset strata
accumulated here relative to the much thinner corresponding deltaic deposits on the outer shelf (Fig. 4).
After the most seaward limit of shelf-edge delta
progradation was reached, silt-mud clinoforms
(Subfacies 3a) developed over the foresets of these
deltas, succeeded upward by the widespread, locally
onlapping Facies 1 drape [Fig. 13(C)].
The post-lowstand clinoforms are truncated at or
just below the seaoor [Fig. 13(C) near F2018].
They are interpreted as the distal foresets of backstepping deltas formed during the Holocene transgression.
The more landward evidence for these deltas has
97
Table 4
Summary of depositional history since isotopic stage 6
Ages (Fig. 17)
Major events (youngest at the top in each grouping)
Figure references
4 ka to present
Progradation of modern Baram Delta ,3/4 of the way across the shelf; continued reworking of
mainly outer shelf surcial deposits under modern wave and current regime
Fig. 22
184 ka
Deposition of a widespread mud drape over slope and shelf areas, including the maximum
ooding surface (,4 ka)
Fig. 8A
Backlling of the Baram incised valley by overlapping delta lobes
Fig. 15A
Diachronous shoreface erosion as the shoreline retreated across the shelf, producing a
widespread ravinement surface, a 0
Figs. 8A and 10B
Marine ooding of uvial channels on the shelf to form estuarine and tidal environments
Figs. 8A and 10B
Marine ooding of the structural moat at the modern shelf edge to form a lagoon connected to
the open ocean by tidal channels where reversing currents formed bimodal-bipolar crossbedding
Fig. 12
Accumulation of sand-prone shelf-edge deltas at the mouths of small rivers (e.g. Tutong River)
that extended seaward of major shelf-edge growth faults during falling sea level and at the
maximum lowstand
Figs. 4 and 22
Accumulation of muddy lowstand Baram Delta near the head of the Baram Canyon, and
periodic large failures of this material to form major debris ow deposits in the canyon
Fig. 1B
Cutting of a major incised valley by the Baram outow and bypassing of its large discharge
across the shelf to accumulate as mud-prone turbidite systems in deep water
Fig. 1B and 15A
7060 ka
Gradual thinning of delta lobes as global sea level started to fall, leading to a reduction in the
amount of new accommodation created on the shelf
Figs. 10A and 21
12070 ka
Accumulation of a thick, seaward-thinning slope drape; these prodeltaic deposits are thickest in
the hangingwall blocks of major shelf-edge growth faults where syndepositional subsidence
created large amounts of new accommodation space
Fig. 7
Progradation of a series of muddy delta lobes of the Baram River system across the Brunei shelf
and onto the modern upper slope; compactional subsidence after abandonment of each lobe
resulted in local transgression and erosion of the abandoned delta top by lower shoreface erosion
(ravinement surfaces d , g , b , and a reectors)
Figs. 19 and 20
Diachronous shoreface erosion as the shoreline retreated across the shelf, producing a
widespread ravinement surface (e reector)
Fig. 10A
6018 ka
135120 ka
apparently been removed everywhere by shoreface

erosion (at the a 0 ravinement) during the transgression. The upper parts of the preserved clinoforms and
the overlying Facies 1 mud may consist partly of these
erosional products that were transported off the shelf
into the more tranquil shelf-edge `moat' as transgression proceeded.
Where lowstand channels are locally absent on the
shelf, the transgressive surface coincides with the
ravinement surface, and is slightly below the maximum ooding surface. Where channels containing
inferred estuarine deposits of Subfacies 3b now
underlie the ravinement surface, the transgressive
surface occurs below Subfacies 3b [Fig. 8(A); cf.
Fig. 18 TST). Such channels would have experienced

tidal effects during marine ooding. Subsequent landward advance of a shorelineshoreface complex
over these estuarine channels would account for the
overlying a 0 ravinement surface (Dalrymple et al.,
1992).
The paleo-Baram incised valley contains inferred
transgressive deposits locally .40 ms thick. These
transgressive deposits rest on a bayline ooding
surface (Allen and Posamentier, 1994) that overlies
older, sand-prone, inferred uvial deposits of similar
thickness. The base of the valley ll is ,130 m below
present sea level (Fig. 15(A), Fix 3111]. At the landward end of the valley, the transgressive inll is
98
overlain by the modern Baram prodelta (Fig. 9), a

wedge that thickens to 40 ms in the most shoreward
proles where it contains clinoforms that return
low-amplitude reections.
8. A local sequence stratigraphic model
The depositional history since the oxygen-isotopic
stage 6 lowstand is outlined in Table 4, based on the
chronology of Fig. 17, facies interpretations, and
isopach maps. Offshore Brunei, because of rapid
subsidence and a high rate of sediment supply, a
thick depositional sequence has accumulated during
the last sea-level cycle. The narrow shelf has allowed
both highstand and lowstand deltas to reach and
extend beyond the present shelf break, and large
areas of continental slope are covered by seawardthinning, draping prodelta muds and silts. The formation of a major incised valley during the last forced
regression (isotopic stages 42) provided a route for
substantial amounts of sediment to bypass the shelf.
As a result, a single 2D sequence stratigraphic model
cannot be used in this area. Instead, a set of 2D models
(Fig. 23) or a 3D block model must be used. The
major problem with any 2D model is that, during
part of the sea-level cycle, the geometry of the dispersal system and the sediment grain size change in
fundamental ways along the margin.
For convenience of discussion, two contemporaneous depositional sequences are recognized: a
lowstandbypass sequence, and a valleycanyon
sequence. The LowstandBypass Sequence [Fig.
23(A)] is present over most of the western shelf of
Brunei. This 4th-order sequence is very similar to the
sequence stratigraphic model for 3rd-order sequences
proposed by Vail et al. (1977, 1991). The main differences are that (1) TST deposits are very thin offshore
Brunei and are largely restricted to sporadically
preserved estuarine deposits in drowned river channels; and (2) the last sea-level fall produced not just an
unconformity on the shelf (Vail et al., 1977), but also
a forced regressive systems tract (FRST) that consists
of a lower set of progressively thinning delta lobes
(Baram system) overlain by more sandy, mainly
shelf-edge deltas that formed at the mouths of smaller
rivers after the Baram outow began to bypass the
shelf. A stack of highstand deltas (`parasequences')
forms most of the succession on the shelf, and passes

seaward (across growth faults) into a seaward-tapering wedge of prodelta muds consisting of inferred
plume and turbidity-current deposits. The highstand
deltas are separated by ravinement surfaces (e.g. d , g
and b reectors) that formed after each lobe was
abandoned and subsided through the surf zone.
During the abandonment and subsidence of each
muddy delta lobe, water depth increased, transgression occurred, but relative sea level did not change
signicantly.
The ValleyCanyon Sequence [Fig. 23(B)] is based
on relationships in the narrow transect landward of the
Baram Canyon, at least during the last sea-level cycle.
Here, older highstand deposits are cut by a shelfcrossing incised valley that is lled with (1) FRST
to LST uvial channel deposits and then (2) TST,
backstepping delta lobes of the retreating Baram
Delta. TST deposits are quite thick in the valley ll,
lying stratigraphically between the transgressive
surface and the maximum ooding surface that is
located just below the clinoforms of the modern
Baram Delta. These TST deposits are Holocene in
age and will form part of the next depositional
sequence, some of which has yet to accumulate.
During the stage 6 lowstand, the Baram system
apparently did not bypass the shelf margin but instead
built a large, muddy, aggrading and prograding delta
lobe beyond the modern shelf edge [Figs. 7 and
23(A)]. As a result, the character of the local sequence
stratigraphic model developed for the Quaternary
Baram Delta must be modied from cycle to cycle.
Presumably bypass to the Borneo Trough through a
prominent canyon did not occur in this area during
stage 6, and no shelf-crossing incised valley of this
age has been recognized.
As proposed by Ito (1998), sequence stratigraphic
models developed for passive continental margins
with wide shelves require modication before they
can be applied to active margins. In particular, the relative contribution of various systems tracts to depositional sequences at active margins is inuenced by the
fact that narrow shelves are unable to cope with sediments supplied from the hinterland during highstands.
Offshore Brunei, this effect is shown by the advance of
highstand delta lobes of the Baram system farther
seaward than overlying sand-prone, shelf-edge deltas
of the next lowstand. Very high subsidence rates,
Sequence
n-1
~10 ka
HST
LST mass-transport
deposit
Baram Canyon
Repeated bypass
and failures
elta
one d
ud-pre n-1)
m
T
LS equenc
(s
P
blarode
nk lta
et ic
~300 m
or
LST
Incised Valley bypass

to turbidite complex
Shelf-crossing ravinement
surface
Maximum flooding surface
Transgressive survace
Transgressive deposits
Highstand deposits
Forced-regressive & Lowstand deposits

(cf. Fig. 18)
Fig. 23. Schematic cross-sections of depositional sequences offshore Brunei. A transgressive surface is only shown if it is not effectively coincident (at this scale) with a ravinement
surface. A maximum ooding surface is only shown where it is not effectively coincident with the seaoor. FRST, forced regressive systems tract; LST, lowstand systems tract;
TST, transgressive systems tract; HST, highstand systems tract. Circles enclosing a cross and bold dot over the turbidite system in the Borneo Trough indicate turbidity-current ow
in or out of the plane of the cross-section.
Sequence
B. Valley-Canyon
HST
LST (mostly
bypassed or
slumped)
TST estuarine local ravinechannel fill

ment surfaces
(sequence n)
in HST
HST
TST mud
(sequence n+1)
possible site of
barriers and tidal sands
FRST & LST
FRST
clinoforms
Late HST or
FRST channels
TST valley-filling
delta lobes (sequence n+1)
FRST & LST

channels
modern
Baram prodelta
Base, FRST/LST
fluvial channels
~125 ka
Shelf-crossing
ravinement
surfaces
Sequence
A. Lowstand-Bypass

99
100
coupled with high rates of sediment supply, have

allowed more than one delta lobe to form even during
relatively rapid periods of sea-level fall associated with
interglacialglacial transitions (Figs. 2022). This
produced a thick and variable Forced Regressive
Systems Tract that is not prominent in the more widely
published sequence stratigraphic models.
Unlike many Quaternary glacial-eustatic depositional cycles on modern shelves (e.g. Saito, 1994), the
offshore Brunei 4th-order sequence described in this
paper is tens of metres to .100 m thick (Fig. 3), similar
to the scale of 3rd-order sequences recognized in industry data from hydrocarbon-producing sedimentary
basins. For this reason, the mapped Brunei deposits
consititute a particularly interesting local example of
sequence architecture to compare with synthetic and
hypothetical models in the literature. Although all
systems tracts are represented offshore Brunei, their
relative volumetric importance (1) is distinct from
passive continental margins with wide shelves; (2)
differs along the margin from undissected to incised
parts of the shelf; and (3) differs from one cycle to the
next in a single cross-section depending on the extent to
which the major uvial system bypassed the shelf.
9. Conclusions
1. The area offshore from the Baram Delta, during the
Quaternary, accumulated the deposits of a number
of delta lobes formed during highstands, times of
forced regression, and times of transgression as the
backll of an incised valley. Stratigraphic thicknesses of single allostratigraphic units increase by
a factor of 25 across growth faults, particularly at
the edge of the modern shelf. Both highstand and
forced-regressive deltas extended beyond the edge
of the modern shelf.
2. The easiest surfaces to map and correlate offshore
Brunei are post-glacial ravinement surfaces on the
shelf (above lowstand uvial channels) passing
seaward into surfaces of maximum regression
offshore from lowstand shelf-edge deltas. These
two surfaces form matched pairs that can be
used to divide the succession into depositional
sequences that constitute allostratigraphic units.
3. Depositional sequences recognized in the highresolution seismic proles offshore Brunei are of
similar scale to sequences imaged by oil industry

seismic surveys, but complex three-dimensional
relationships can be sorted out because of the
higher resolution of the data and the recent age of
the deposits. In particular, highstand deposits are
delta lobes of the Baram River, whereas lowstand
sediments of the last glacial episode are the deposits of much smaller, mixed sand-mud-load rivers.
As glacio-eustatic sea level approached lowstand,
the Baram River cut a major incised valley and
then bypassed the shelf to the head of the Baram
Canyon. The paleo-Baram lowstand delta sited at
the canyon head provided muddy sediment directly
to the deep ocean oor via efcient mud-load
turbidity currents and repeated failures of oversteepened slopes.
4. The depositional sequence in the incised valley is
quite different than the sequence on the adjacent
shelf. It consists of an incised highstand succession
(delta lobes), overlain by uvial channel deposits.
The subsequent depositional sequence (only partly
deposited to date) consists of retrogressive delta
lobe deposits of the Baram system as rising seas
ooded the valley.
5. Gravity-controlled growth faulting created a structural moat just beyond the modern shelf edge
where relatively large thicknesses of late-lowstand
prodelta deposits and transgressive to highstand
muds and silts accumulated. These faults cut the
modern depositional surface, and associated gravitational instability has produced swarms of closely
spaced down-to-the-basin faults in prodelta muds
younger than ,18 ka.
Acknowledgements
This research was carried out during the tenure of a
Brunei-Shell Fellowship in Environmental Sciences
at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Colleagues in the
Department of Petroleum Geoscience at Universiti
Brunei Darussalam provided a critical sounding
board as the research progressed, and offered invaluable suggestions for improvement of this paper. The
marine survey and follow-up examination of industry
seismic and borehole data were nancially supported
and encouraged by many geologists and technical
experts from Brunei Shell Petroleum Company

Sendirian Berhad. BSP paleontologist S. van Heck
provided biostratigraphic data and advice. Professional data acquisition onboard M.V. Armada Hydro
was provided by employees of Racal Surveys (Singapore) and Captain Rafael Misola and his crew
(Nautika Support Services). Study of seismic data
covering the edges of the paleo-Baram incised valley
was generously permitted by Sarawak Shell Berhad,
Malaysia. Early drafts of the manuscript were
improved by critical comments and suggestions of J.
Lambiase, J. Peters, P. Allman-Ward, P. Van
Rensbergen, and A. Aksu. Journal reviewers J. Milliman, H.K. Wong, an anonymous reviewer, and editorin-chief D.J.W. Piper are thanked for many helpful
suggestions. Permission to publish was kindly granted
by Brunei Shell Petroleum and the Petroleum Unit,
Negara Brunei Darussalam.
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Depositional Sequences Controlled by High Rates of Sediment Supply, Sea-Level Variations, and Growth Faulting - The Quaternary Baram Delta of Northwestern Borneo

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Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

Depositional sequences controlled by high rates of sediment

ing large continents (e.g. Atlantic and Gulf coasts of

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

Drainage basin area

of Sarawak and Sabah, northwestern Borneo (Fig. 1),

that mouth bars at the delta front contain abundant

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

2. Data acquisition and approach

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

Distance Seaward (km)

modern delta (Fig. 15)

compensator. In this paper, `reector' is the term used

that no offset correction is required for the airgun data.

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

Reection continuity and

Interpreted sediment type

Homogeneous silty clay

Sheetlike drape or onlapping

Continuous, parallel, gentle

le was subsequently used to plot isopach maps (in

Silty clay with irregular silt

(e.g. Mitchum et al., 1977; Sangree et al., 1978). The

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

The directly measured depths (echo sounder)

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

mostly lack bathymetric expression because of

also common on the shelf (Van Rensbergen et al.,

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

proles with sufcient penetration. Two additional

structures from any sandy facies, presumably because

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

Subfacies letter and

Interpreted depositional environment

1. Reection-free deposits (Fig. 8A), or parallel

Distal prodelta mud, plume deposits, contains

Current- and wave-reworked highstand muds

3. Continuous, low- to moderate-amplitude,

(a) Clinoforms (,38)

Muddy prodelta and plume deposits

(b) Draping channel ll

Estuarine ll of gradually ooding channels

4. Discontinuous to incoherent, locally concave

(a) channel lls with

5. Continuous to discontinuous, moderateamplitude, lobes lling wavy, shingled to

by irregularly bedded or crossbedded deposits that ll

Coarse-grained forced-regressive and lowstand

Shingled delta lobes llling a major incised

clinoforms on the shelf (Fig. 5). They are toplap

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

except in the northeastern extremity of the survey

numerous channels have cut into the near-surface

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

a thin reector-free drape that extends over the entire

Posamentier, 1994; Thomas and Anderson, 1994;

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

Holocene transgression as the shoreline retreated

fauna) cannot be extracted from the seismic data,

R.N. Hiscott / Marine Geology 175 (2001) 67102

depth of ,180 m just beyond the shelf edge, near the